BALKAN to curb their Pollution levels

Fine particulate matter contributed to about 239,000 deaths in Europe, but the burden was felt more deeply in some parts of the continent than others. Air pollution is a deadly public health threat, but some parts of Europe are at much higher risk than others.

In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated its air quality guidelines, lowering the recommended threshold for annual concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) such as dust, smoke, and soot from exhaust.

In December, stricter air quality rules came into force that aim to bring the European Union closer to WHO standards by 2030, and oblige member states to monitor pollutants like fine particulate matter, black carbon, and ammonia.

The plan is one of the biggest public health interventions for a generation, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, director of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health’s urban planning, environment, and health initiative, told Euronews Health.

Overall, exposure to PM2.5 caused about 239,000 premature deaths in Europe in 2021, while another 48,000 people died as a result of nitrogen dioxide exposure, according to the European Environment Agency.

Currently, all EU countries report nitrogen dioxide levels above WHO-recommended levels, but some are hit harder by air pollution than others.

North Macedonia suffers the most deaths from pollution, followed by Serbia.

And neighboring Albania, Bulgaria and Montenegro all have too high scores, according to a recent report from the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The biggest divide in Europe we see is east and west [and this] aligns very much with GDP and socioeconomic backgrounds of the two regions, Zorana Jovanovic Andersen, an environmental epidemiology professor at the University of Copenhagen and member of the European Respiratory Society’s environment and health committee, told Euronews Health.

Northern Italy, Poland, and the Czech Republic have seen elevated rates of PM2.5 mortality, which is mostly driven by residential sources, like burning coal to heat homes and the agricultural sector.

Meanwhile, NO2 mortality – which is mainly driven by aviation, shipping, car traffic and the industrial sector – was highest in major and capital cities in western and southern Europe.

Some countries are taking steps to curb their pollution levels, including Denmark, which could become the first country in the world to impose a carbon tax on livestock farming in 2030.

The updated EU directive, meanwhile, gives citizens with pollution-related health problems the right to take their government to court if it does not comply with EU air quality rules.

Yet the report from the OECD and the European Commission said that while the EU is on track to curb PM2.5-linked deaths by 55% by 2030, environmental risk factors such as air pollution and climate change are growing threats to public health.

That’s because scientists know more today about the health impacts of air pollution, and it appears to pose a risk to people at lower levels than previously recognized, Nieuwenhuijsen and Andersen said.

Even if you reduce the air pollution levels quite considerably, you may not always reduce the health impacts as much, Nieuwenhuijsen said.

Air pollution may be the top environmental health threat facing Europe, but it tends to overlap with other factors, such as a lack of green spaces, noise pollution, and extreme heat, all of which have an impact on human health.

Given some of these challenges are harder to solve – such as climate change – Andersen said there is a stronger case for limiting air pollution in the name of protecting health.

We have reduced the air pollution, and we know how to and a lot of countries are leading, Andersen said. There are new challenges coming, so we need to regulate air pollution – the old problem.

Euro News / ABC Flash Point News 2025.